Lunar Eclipse today! When Where and How!

It has easy links to follow for any eclipse event happening during the year. The bottomline is that we might see the complete totality of the eclipse, as the moon rises over the hills (which could be very beautiful). We will not see the whole progression. The moon rises at the horizon (not the mountain) at 5:11PM and that is when the full eclipse begins. Cloud cover should not be a problem. Details below.

Here are two graphics from NASA. The first shows where the complete progression of the eclipse will be visible high in the sky. That will extend as far West as Manitoba. (The P1 line) That means we will see it closer to the horizon and as it rises.

A lunar eclipse is a very long event because it travels through the Umbra and Penumbra shadows of the Earth. The full event takes over 5 hours.

The moon will make first contact (explanation here) P1 with the Earth’s faint penumbra at 00:11:47 UTC which is 5:11PM Pacific time.

Will we see this? As you may guess from the graphics above, no. Here is confirmation. Notice the altitude is negative. Meaning the moon is below the horizon at this time. Also since it is rising it will be to the East (69° East of True North) and so hidden behind Mt. Arrowsmith.

The moon will not get to the horizon until 7:11PM. Of course, that doesn’t mean we will be able to see her behind Mt. Arrowsmith. This is the U2 contact which is the beginning of the full eclipse when the edges of the moon will start to turn red. If you want to see as much as possible then you will either need to be up Mt. Arrowsmith or on the beach in the East Island.

The full eclipse happens between U2 at 7:11PM when it enters the Umbra and U3 when it begins to exit at 8:23PM.

Will we be able to see any of the full eclipse between those times? I do not have exact knowledge but I would estimate the moon needs to be around 5-10° above the horizon to see it over the hills. That will be around 8PM as shown below. Which will be right around the time of the totality of the eclipse.

After that point we should see a very nice show of the big harvest moon rising partially red over the mountain and see the departing stages of the eclipse as it moves out of the umbra into the penumbra and then to full brightness at 10:22PM.